AB 2248: Student financial aid: Cal Grant program.

Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program (Cal Grant Program), establishes the Cal Grant A and B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement Awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards, and the Cal Grant T Awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements and maximum levels for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions, as defined. Existing law, for the purposes of the Cal Grant Program, defines full time to mean 12 or more semester units or the equivalent and defines part time to mean 6 to 11 semester units or the equivalent.

This bill would require the commission, upon the initial awarding and the renewal of a Cal Grant award, as specified, to notify a Cal Grant award recipient in writing that, in order to graduate in 4 years, he or she must take 15 semester units or the equivalent quarter units, or 30 semester units per academic year or the equivalent quarter units, and that a Cal Grant award is limited to 4 academic years. The bill also would require a qualifying institution, as defined, to notify in writing a new student during orientation, a student receiving state financial aid, upon annual registration, and a student registering online for fewer than 15 units of the above specified provisions.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.